Celebrating The First Day of Spring

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Last week, Conserve School welcomed in the first day of spring with an all day celebration on Wednesday! The day started off with a delicious pancake breakfast served right in Donahue and Elaine Houses. A big thank you to all staff members and graduate fellows for helping with the pancake breakfast! The pancake provided the much-needed energy the students would need for the rest of the morning to participate in the fast paced adventurous scavenger hunt that followed after breakfast.

During this scavenger hunt, students had to work in teams of four to use their orienteering skills that they learned during Field Instruction class to navigate to different clues, riddles, and challenges all around campus at Conserve. Some of the challenges included throwing Frisbees through hula-hoops, finding Easter eggs, take pictures, solve trivia about Wisconsin, and fire building.

After a fun and tiring morning of running around Conserve, everyone came together for lunch and a little relaxation time, before continuing the activities of Spring Festival. Following lunch, the Conserve School community had the opportunity to attend a presentation given by tribal leader Nick Hockings from the Lac Du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe Indians. Nick talked about the different traditions and ceremonies of the Ojibwe throughout the different seasons of the year. He shared many different stories, songs, and traditional pieces of the Ojibwe culture from the past and present. Thank you to Nick Hockings for coming to Conserve School to help us celebrate the beginning of Spring.

For the rest of the afternoon, students, staff, and graduate fellows worked together to prepare food for the Spring Festival dinner that would wrap up the daylong celebration. Throughout the afternoon, the houses filled with smells of baking bread, roasting vegetables, homemade desserts, and other delicious food. Many of the dishes prepared were made with locally grown food including maple syrup that was collected and made right at Conserve earlier in the week.

After all the food was prepared, everyone had time to gussy up in his or her “Sunday best” and get ready for the Spring Fest dinner. White table cloths, lit candles, fresh flowers, fancy dishes, place cards, and sparkling grape juice helped create a great fancy dinner atmosphere. Everyone enjoyed the food and conversation throughout the evening. This was a great way to end the festivities of Spring Festival.

A Special thank you to graduate fellow Chris Homeister for all your time organizing Spring Festival; Guest Speaker Nick Hockings for your great presentation; English teacher Jeff Rennicke, Science and Art teacher Robert Eddy, and students for your photos; and everyone else who helped make this day a big success.